4 out of 5

Saddlebags is an excellent distillation of the unique kind of tightrope-tension thrills Queen & Country had the potential to embellish, told through streamlined, street-level action, terse backroom conversations, and the briefest – but most effective – glimpses of our Minders’ personal lives.

We’ve skipped forward some time, with Frances Barclay now surely in charge, Tom gone, and Tara in charge of Minder Two Nicky Poole and provisional Minder Three, Chris. A confusing bit of communication comes over the wire, highlighted by Ops Room’s Ron and Alexis to Crocker: someone’s potentially selling secrets. Chase and her fresh-faced Minder Three are tasked with observation only, a low-stakes op that inevitably goes way wrong, leaving Crocker to pull the various strings back at the office to determine the next best course of action… Within three issues, Greg really piles it all in, with the double-talk political dealings, a brief, furious flash of action, intra-station squabbling as Tara butts heads with not only her Minder but the officers on location, and some one- or two-panel shots that instantly tell us of the tolls Tom’s leaving and the pressures of leadership have taken on Tara.

Artist Mike Norton is a half step behind getting this to page, unfortunately, his more cartoonish style not necessarily selling some of the emotional dramatics (particularly the last page of Tara, post-mission), and a completely confusing gunshot that comes from and goes nowhere during that one pivotal action sequence. However, his imagining of a somewhat shlubby Chris is perfect: his nervousness and greenness in his role is instantly apparent, but he also stands up straight and snaps to action when he’s ready.

As is now the caveat when reading Q & C, the main shame is knowing that the series would end soon after this, while it felt like we were just turning the corner on some possibly amazing stuff. (Yes, sure, you had some books to read as well, but we like our pictures, dammit.)